A Woman's Words: Emer and Female Speech in the Ulster Cycle

228 Pages·1997·10.751 MB·English

by  Joanne Findon

A WOMAN'S WORDS:
EMER AND FEMALE SPEECH IN THE ULSTER CYCLEE
This page intentionally left blank
JOANNE FINDON
A Woman's Words:
Emer and Female Speech
in the Ulster Cycle
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1997
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-0865-8
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Findon, Joanne, 1957-
A woman's words
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8020-0865-8
1. Emer (Legendary character). 2. Epic literature,
Irish - History and criticism. 3. Tales, Medieval -
History and criticism. 4. Women in literature.
I. Title.
PB1397.C8F551997 891.6'231 C97-930008-8
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities
and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
13•-JICfl
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX
PREFACE xi
ABBREVIATIONS xtii
Introduction 3
1 The Wooing ofEmer: The Sweet Speech of Courtship 23
2 Bricriu's Feast: Women's Words as Weapons 57
3 The Death ofAife's Only Son: 'Do not slay your only son' 84
4 The Wasting Sickness ofCu Chulainn: The Language of Desire 107
Conclusion 135
Appendix: Sources and Manuscripts 141
NOTES 147
REFERENCES 191
INDEX 205
This page intentionally left blank